Key Takeaways:
You.com, a company that makes an artificial intelligence-powered search engine and productivity tools, has raised US$50 million in a new funding round that includes backing from Nvidia and DuckDuckGo.
The fresh capital brings the company’s total haul to US$99 million. Investor Georgian led the round, with participation from SBVA (formerly Softbank Ventures Asia), Salesforce Ventures, and Day One Ventures. The company declined to share its latest valuation.
Congrats Richard. You is amazing.
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) September 4, 2024
After spending four years as Salesforce’s chief scientist, founder and chief executive officer Richard Socher started You.com, officially called SuSea, as an AI-powered search engine. The company is now positioning itself beyond search, aiming to be a comprehensive productivity tool for people at work.
In addition to offering search capabilities, You.com is developing AI agents designed to handle specific tasks in the workplace, enhancing its appeal to enterprise clients.
These agents can perform research, problem-solving, and content creation, with features such as deep-link citations that take users directly to the source material, helping users search complex queries more effectively.
Congratulations Richard, I was super bullish on agentic platforms, but a productivity OS is clearly the next level. Following your progress, and looking forward to make integrations w/my products 👏
— Saïd Aitmbarek (@SaidAitmbarek) September 4, 2024
The company currently integrates various large language models (LLMs) from providers like OpenAI, Google, Cohere, and Meta Platforms, and is also building its own LLM.
Since its launch in November 2021, You.com has processed over 1 billion queries and grown its annual recurring revenue by 500% since January 2024.
The platform has secured millions of daily users, including organizations such as Salesforce, Stanford University, and the AI research startup Hugging Face.
great, if you have a sort of google search console for you, there’s a lot of SEO who will move to alternative to google, and I will push to make it happen in France
— ⚡Jessy SEO formation #IA générative #chatGPT 🦊 (@jessyseonoob) September 5, 2024
It has also signed customer deals with social media firms, tech startups, and publicly traded companies. You.com charges its customers based on actual service usage, which Socher emphasizes is crucial for helping large companies maximize their AI investments.
Nvidia was the second-largest investor in the latest funding round, indicating strong demand for such AI tools in the workplace.
Socher’s strategy involves leveraging the backing from corporate investors to expand You.com’s offerings and increase its market share, despite fierce competition from both established giants and emerging startups like Perplexity.
Looking forward, You.com aims to enhance its productivity engine capabilities, enabling businesses to perform complex, knowledge-intensive tasks more efficiently.
Incredible achievement – 500% growth in ARR since Jan 2024 is amazing. Proven MOAT, congrats to you and the rest of the @youdotcom team!!!
— Jake Smith (@JakeSmi54653195) September 4, 2024
The company’s ambition to create a unique value proposition in the enterprise AI reflects its commitment to accuracy, customization, and tangible productivity gains.
Socher stated in a Bloomberg Television interview that You.com is dedicated to fostering customer success and delivering precise solutions in a competitive environment where differentiation factors are increasingly critical.
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